Be Encouraged!

1 SAMUEL 30...and David encouraged himself in the Lord.

Sometimes on this journey, you have to encourage yourself. When you are at that place in the race where there seems to be no one cheering you on, there are no more water refreshing stops, and the finish line is some miles down the road. There are times when you just need to keep going but you can't seem to find the strength or figure out how to put one more foot in front of the other, it is during those times that you have to encourage yourself in the Lord.

In 1 Samuel 30...
It came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

David lost everything he owned, the enemy had cleaned out his camp. There were times when I felt like David, like the enemy had invaded the home schooling camp. I felt stripped of everything, no thoughts, no resources, no family, no friends, not even a voice to cry out sometimes and nothing seemed to be going my way in homeschooling.

Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.5 And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: 

Now, let's look at this picture, they were all grieving together because everyone had lost all their family and possessions including David BUT David was their leader. They "expected" him to figure out what had happened and to make it right. They spoke of stoning him, the very men that fought with him in battles before and defeated great enemies together. These were the ones that were supposed to be his ride or die, the ones that God had given to him, people that David knew personally that he had helped. They were the very ones that turned on him and they spoke of stoning him.

What do you do when the enemy is sitting in the camp looking you in the eye? What do you do when the very ones you expected to help you, were cutting you down with their negative words?

When I look back into 2010, I remember the fear and the dread of "What were people going to say? What were they going to think about me homeschooling my children? Even worse than that, what if I failed? I had no idea what I was doing. I did not have a big plan and a blue print laid out for the road to success in homeschooling. 

Yeah, there were blogs to read and articles to consider but every situation was different and what worked for one was not necessarily working for me. When I told family the "big news" there was no support, there were secret counsel of doubt and discouragement and it became evident eventually when we would gather at family gatherings.  

I acted defensively about homeschooling and made a decision to not "share" it with anyone lest I become discouraged and quit.

"...but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.8 And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

As I sought the wisdom and counsel of the Lord like David did, onward I forged day after day. The days turned into months and the months turned into years and before I knew it, six years had passed. There were many days of, Lord I can't and he would say, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. 

Some days it was, I am tired and he would say, my grace is sufficient for you, for in your weakness I AM strong. I would scrape myself up off the floor rejoicing in another small yet significant victory and I would go to the computer and find exactly what I needed in order to move forward.

So today, as I look back, it's been six years and the two oldest are getting ready to jump a hurdle, finishing high school. Of course the enemy is trying to infiltrate the camp and discourage them and myself but Jesus is at the center of it all.  

I choose to encourage myself in the Lord like David did. I look back only to see how far the Lord has brought me, not to stay there and mourn over days gone by, but to rejoice and give thanks and praise because I AM an over comer through Christ according to HIS word, John 16:33. He has overcome the world, and I am in HIM (CHRIST) and He (CHRIST) is in the Father, and as HE (CHRIST)is in heaven, so am I on this earth.

This word today is to encourage you and in doing so, encourage myself. Six years ago in 2010 I started this homeschooling journey with my family. There were many hopeless looking days and failure seemed eminent. There were mornings spent crying on the floor in my room, searching, for answers and solutions, listening for someone to tell me, it's OK to quit. OH how I wanted to quit so many times. It felt good, it seemed like a good idea but it was not God. 

You see, God is not a quitter, he never quit on us, we just drift away from him sometimes but HE never leaves us. So now, as we start this new school year, I want to encourage you no matter what leg of your journey you may be on, BE ENCOURAGED and encourage yourself in the lord. 

As necessary as mankind is in helping us in this world, Jehovah Jireh is our ultimate source of help, provision and encouragement when we need it. He is the one who can touch the heart of man and give them a desire to help you. If we would allow him to direct our help, and stop "expecting " certain people to help us, then we would be less discouraged. David "expected" the men in his camp to support him during this tragic time. 

Sometimes, we "expect" the children to do better, sometimes we "expect" our spouses to do better, sometimes we even "expect" ourselves to do better but we can't and they can't, not without GOD. The Lord did not allow the people around David to help him, in fact, he allowed them to turn their backs on him so that David would learn to turn to GOD.

Psalms 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him.

Are you turning to God first in everything for your home schooling journey?  Are you trying to figure things out on your own? Are you expecting someone else to help you and they are not? Are you allowing others to influence your move forward or are you allowing GOD to order your steps? 

Today before you take another step, this is your examination time. Ask yourself, WHO IS DRIVING MY HOMESCHOOLING SHIP? If your answer is not truthfully "God" right off the bat, then you need to go back to the drawing board, like David did. Go back to the ultimate source and cry out to HIM and inquire of him as to what your next move should be. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.

BE ENCOURAGED BUT MOST OF ALL, ENCOURAGE YOURSELF IN THE LORD!